American Poolplayers Association will hold a tournament in memory of Alexander "Skip" Wade and Phillip Johnson—members of the club who were murdered in Cedar Grove on Jan. 25.
Top Dawg Memorial Tournament will be held Saturday, Feb. 25, at Oscar’s “Q” & Bar in Chapel Hill. The tournament will be an 8-Ball Scotch Doubles tournament that is open to the public.
For more information, see the Wednesday, Feb. 22, edition of the News of Orange County.

Agricultural Summit comes to Orange County

The 25th annual North Carolina A&T Small Farms Week came to Orange County for its 2011 anniversary from Monday, March 21, to Wednesday, March 23, combining with the agriculture celebration the county has held for the past 13 years. The collaborated event not only commemorated farmers across the state and region through informative workshops and lectures but also honored the 2010 Small Farmer of the Year: Cedar Grove prawn farmer, Joe Thompson.

The summit included a tour of the prawn farm and Tiny Farm in Hillsborough, which grows greens year-round in solar-heated greenhouses.

The summit originally began as a way to pool ideas on agricultural tips, practices and options when tobacco was rapidly falling out of governmental favor. Now, farmers still use the event as a way to keep up with the latest trends, such as organic and local farming.

Agricultural Summit to be held March 21

The 13th annual Orange County Agricultural Summit will be held March 21 at the Ruritan Club, 6116 Efland-Cedar Grove Road in Cedar Grove, one of the county's most well-known farming communities. In addition to a full slate of agricultural topics, Joe Thompson, owner of Thompson’s Prawn Farm, is being honored as the 2010 N.C. Small Farmer of the Year.

Three tour stops are planned for the afternoon of the Summit: Thompson Prawn Farm, Tiny Farm and the Piedmont Food and Agricultural Processing Center.

Thompson will talk about his prawn farm, his plans to vertically integrate his business by adding a juvenile prawn production facility to supply his farm and other regional prawn farms, as well as a discussion of his involvement in programs to purchase the development rights on his farm.

Tiny Farm, owned by Mark Hockney, is located just northeast of Hillsborough. Hockney grows and sells lettuce and other greens to high-end restaurants and farmers markets year-round. It has become a highly efficient and profitable agricultural business that uses high tunnels for season extension of fresh locally grown vegetables.

Participants can get a sneak preview of the 10,400-square-foot Piedmont Food & Agricultural Processing Center (PFAP), a farm and food business incubator scheduled to open in April 2011. Currently under renovation, PFAP will have two commercial kitchens, a multi-use facility, vegetable and fruit processing equipment, and entrepreneur offices geared to launch new businesses that value locally produced farm products.

The summit fee is $10. Registration will take place from 8:00 to 8:30 a.m. A sponsored lunch made with locally grown products will be served. Seating is limited.

To reserve a spot, contact the Orange County Cooperative Extension office at (919) 245-2050. For additional information, including the agenda and driving directions, visit http://orange.ces.ncsu.edu.